Sorrow. Despair. I know all good things in life must end but the Telegraph department? It had been around for 160 years but will disappear from July. I have been tapping away at the Chennai telegraph office for nearly 40 years, having snazzled a job after my sslc. The event was celebrated at home with a vada-payasam feast, for a central government job was the highest one could aim at. When I set out for work on the first day, a callow lad all of 18, my grandfather told me to be loyal to my job, as I would draw pension from the day I retired. What more could one ask for? I walked with my head high and did not mind being called ‘Thanthi (telegram) Chengu’. Marriage proposals arrived in plenty. Finally, when I got married some of the women whose daughters I had turned down sniffed and snapped: “It is all for the good. I don’t want my daughter to marry someone who always brought bad news!”